Panee was extremely tired. However, he knew he needed to continue going up, no matter what, so he continued jumping from cloud to cloud, as he went up, until he finally arrived at his destination, at the very top of Bubbly Clouds.
“Ugh… I’m back…” Panee said, finally stopping to move.
“Finally!” someone replied to him. “What took you so long?”
“Well, I—”
“Wait, where are they?! I thought you would bring the orb over here after you got them all— Do you mean…”
“Hmm, yeah,” Panee said, as he closed his eyes, disappointed, “I was so close…”
“Agent P! You failed me?!”
“It’s Panee…” he opened his eyes. “But yeah, I did, and I’m mad about it too. Going to rub my failure in my face?”
“Ugh… My perfect plan! You ruined it!”
“Hey, hey!” Panee got really angry. “First, I planned it! Second… you know you wouldn’t be able to do half of what I did, even if you could stay away from high places for a while…”
“…Fair enough… But that’s one of the reasons why I created you and the others!”
“And then you idiot threw them away…”
“I didn’t know they were like you! And now that I do, I want them back!”
“…Yeah. You really are dumb, Marx. You’re such a horrible boss.”
Indeed, in front of Panee was his boss, Marx himself, more specifically Marx Soul.
“HEY! I told you to just call me boss, not Marx!” Marx said, furious.
“Why? That’s so stupid, like you…”
Still furious, Marx said, “Cut out that rudeness! Respect your boss! Or else…”
“Or else what? You’re going to fire me? And then who will help you,” Panee smirked, “Simis? Heheh…”
Marx snorted. “…You idiot… Anyway, since this failed, time for plan B…”
“Not today. I’m going home to sleep.” Panee turned around and started walking away. “Good night.”
Marx sighed. “And who said I will need your help with this one anyway? Good night.”
Panee looked back at Marx. “Oh, you aren’t going to need me at all?”
Marx stopped for a moment, and then said, “…Actually…”
Panee grunted. “Oh c’mon, I’m super tired today, bye.” He turned back to Marx once again and continued walking away from him.
“No, wait, it’s just a quick question!”
Panee gave in, stopped walking, and turned back to Marx. “…Fine. But ask quick.”
“Who do you think I should call for it?”
Panee stopped to think for a moment. And soon after he had an idea, and said, “Well… Someone is perfect. But keep these in mind…”
“We’re really free! Yay!” said Clare, very happy.
“How did Panee even break the orb?” asked Anny.
“It appears that there was some sort of password to self-destruct it, and he just said it,” Daisy said, thoughtful.
“Oh, wow, so I doubt we would be able to figure it out…” said Clare.
“In fact,” Daisy continued, “I’ve been wondering about that password… If converted to letters, it reads ‘XXIS’… Why does it sound familiar?”
Clare stopped to think about that, and then said, “Huh, no clue…”
“What if it means nothing?” Anny said.
Still thoughtful, Daisy said, “I don’t know, it sounds so specific…”
While all kirbies chatted about the crazy day they had, Kirby, Keeby and Kirsy chatted about something more practical.
“It’s so late and you and the others are all far from home… What should we do…?” said Kirby.
“Why don’t we stay in your house, Kirby?” asked Kirsy.
“Huh?” Kirby looked at Kirsy.
“Not only would it be rude to tell them to go home this late when there is a big house right here, I don’t know if I feel comfortable going alone to my house either…” Kirsy looked around. “It’s so late…”
“Well, I could lead the way, Kirsy,” Keeby said.
Kirsy looked at Keeby and said, “But then to be fair you would need to do that to everyone else… you sure you want to guide twenty kirbies home?”
“Ehh…” Keeby stopped to think, and had to agree with Kirsy, “Fair point.”
“But is everyone going to fit inside it?” asked Kirby.
“I bet we can find a way!” Kirsy said.
“I am just worried everyone is going to get cramped… I could barely fit everyone for the meeting…”
“But that was because you only had them stay in one room for that, right?”
Kirby remembered, and confirmed, “Oh, true…”
“Also, speaking of your meeting… With everyone here, you can continue it tomorrow!”
Kirby realized that was true, and smiled. “Yeah, true that! I still want to figure out why they have permanent copy abilities…”
Keeby started saying, “And that kirby… Panee… He apparently is one of them too! And he knows so much about those… ‘she’s cheese is’ or whatever. And it’s odd that I didn’t originally spot him either…”
“Yeah, maybe he can be the one to answer all these questions…” wondered Kirby. “But he wasn’t so friendly…”
Kirsy yawned. “Anyway, we can’t do much today. Let’s just go to sleep.”
“Yup. I will go tell the others they can stay here.”
And so Kirby turned towards where the other kirbies were, and started walking in that direction.
The other kirbies were near Kirby’s house, all chatting with each other. While some were talking about how they were glad to be free, some were talking about Panee, while others were talking about the meeting earlier, and some were even talking about the Halberd.
Kirby approached them all and noticed how everyone was concentrated on their own conversations, and didn’t even realize he was now next to them. Impatient, Kirby simply took a deep breath and shouted, “LISTEN UP, EVERYONE!”
Hearing Kirby’s shout, most kirbies stopped talking and looked at him. The few that didn’t were soon interrupted by others, and in a matter of seconds the scenario had changed from a loud to a quiet one.
Satisfied to see everyone now quiet, Kirby started saying, “I will let you all stay in my house to sleep for the night, since it’s very late for you to go back to your homes. You can just enter, find a spot and sleep. Sweet dreams and good night!”
The kirbies all looked at each other and seemed to agree with Kirby. Some went straight inside the house, while some stayed outside to either finish their conversations, or figure out where or how they would sleep. In particular, Clare appeared to be very apprehensive.
“But how will I sleep here…” she said, wondering out loud.
“What do you mean?” asked Anny. “You sleep so easily!”
“But… I don’t have Caio with me!” Clare said.
“Caio…” Anny tried to remember who that was, “Oh, your Chilly plush?”
“Yeah, him! I can’t sleep without him…”
“Huh…”
“Well, Clare lives near here, no?” Daisy pointed out. “Maybe someone can go there quickly and grab it.”
“Quickly? To reach Float Islands from here by foot it would be half an hour, and then to come back another half hour,” Anny said.
“Oh, right, hmm…”
“Not if I go get it!”
The three looked at who said that, and spotted Kirby with a feathery headband. “While I listened to your dilemma I went to copy Wing from a feather Natty gave me, so I can fly and go get it and then get back really fast!” he continued. “Give me five minutes max!”
“Oh, thanks Kirby!” Clare said, very happy! “Let me tell you where my house is.”
And so Clare explained the directions to Kirby, and he nodded and took off. And as he promised, in five minutes he was back with Clare’s plush.
“Caio!!!!” she exclaimed, getting it from Kirby’s hands. “There you are!”
Clare hugged her plush tightly, while Anny, Daisy and Kirby watched with a smile.
Anny yawned. “Well, but I’m super tired. Now that you have it, let’s go head inside and get ready to sleep.”
“Yup!” Clare said.
“Yes, let’s go.” Daisy looked at Kirby. “Thanks a lot, Kirby!”
“That was nothing!” Kirby said, as he dropped his ability, and then yawned. “Now sleep time!”
And so the four, the only kirbies still outside, headed inside the house to sleep. Most kirbies inside had already found their corners to lay down, and some had even already fallen asleep. Everyone was very tired from all that had happened that day, and just wanted to rest for a while.
Kirby found the place he usually slept in that house empty, and was relieved. “Yay, no one took it,” he thought. “It would be better if this house had beds, but I don’t usually stay here in this house for long anyway… My dome-shaped one is way more comfortable, but way smaller. I never expected I would need to make them sleep here…”
Kirby lied down and continued to think, “In fact, what a day, huh? The most eventful I’ve seen ever since The True Arena around a year ago… And I still have so many questions, but so little answers… But hey, I won’t find these answers right now, so I better just sleep like I want to…”
After thinking that, Kirby closed his eyes and fell asleep right after. All other remaining kirbies soon followed as well, until Kirby’s house was filled with sleeping kirbies. And so, the kirbies slept peacefully, thinking that night would be just another regular night…
20 Times Kirby! 